First time water-cooling!!

PrimeIII · November 21, 2023

Point out problems with my potential build!

Alrighty! So long story short, I have built PCs since 2012. In over a decade of experience, this is my first time getting involved with a custom water loop. I feel decently knowledgeable about what I am getting myself into, but would love some feedback on part compatibility and recommendations! I am doing this in a meshify C (I understand the space restrictions will make this extra-challenging).

The biggest concerns:

- Clearance (naturally), case is rated at 315mm of card clearance with front fans, PCB is 267mm, radiator is 30mm. This should clear, but I very well could be missing something.

- Compatibility, mainly the fittings, am I buying enough, will they work with the 1/4 to 10/13mm

PC Specs:

EVGA 2080 Super FTW 3 (267mm PCB)

Ryzen 9 3900x (AM4)

Front Rad - Corsair Hydro X Series XR5 360mm - Black
Top rad - Corsair Hydro X Series XR5 240mm - white

Pump - Corsair Hydro X series XD5 Pump/Res combo - white

CPU waterblock - EK-Quantum Velocity^2 D-RGB - AM4 - Nickel + Acetal

GPU waterblock - EK-Vector RTX RE - Nickel + Acetal

Tubing - EK-Loop Soft Tube 10/13mm 3m - Clear

Fittings - 6x EK-Quantum Torque Rotary 90° - Black
- 2x EK-Quantum Torque 6 Pack STC 10/13 - Black

The whole purpose of doing this is to breathe some new life into my PC building love. Im not looking for perfection when it comes to style or temps!

Zando_ · November 21, 2023

If you want a headache-less experience, go for ZMT (EPDM rubber) tubing, not clear stuff, that tends to have issues over time. Dodge EK's blocks unless you really want them for aesthetics, usually they're overpriced vs something like a Heatkiller IV that performs better (and is built better, my Heatkiller IV for my Vega FE was the most solid block I've ever had). Check HardwareLabs radiator prices, they make pretty much the best ones so if they aren't more expensive than the Corsair ones, then they're better. Can't remember who the OEM for Corsair's radiators is, it might actually be HardwareLabs already.

46 minutes ago, PrimeIII said:

Compatibility, mainly the fittings, am I buying enough, will they work with the 1/4 to 10/13mm

G1/4 is the threading on the end that screws into blocks/rads/etc, that's standard and should work with any normal watercooling hardware. 10/13 is the tubing measurement, that'd work if you stick with that clear tubing. If you switch to ZMT, I recommend just cheap barb fittings and black zip ties (with a $7 flush cutter of amazon they look very clean). That's about the latest photo from when I cared about how the PC looked:

Horrible lighting but you can see the zip ties blend in well. Never had a leak using this setup through... probably 5+ rebuilds now. Was using an EK block for the GPU here as Watercool never made a Heatkiller for the Radeon VII. Found out after selling it to a friend that I had been running the block backwards the whole time and gumming it up, EK said in the documentation included that it could be ran either way, so not a great impression there. That EKWB pump/res combo has been damn solid though, it's a D5 so can't really be messed up, tis the only pump/res combo I've had through all my builds.

52 minutes ago, PrimeIII said:

Clearance (naturally), case is rated at 315mm of card clearance with front fans, PCB is 267mm, radiator is 30mm. This should clear, but I very well could be missing something.

Been a while since I had my meshify C... if the fans don't mount on the "outside" of the case (just behind the mesh front) then count your radiator as 55mm because you've gotta include 25mm fans (you can get 15mm fans if you have to though). Looking back at my photos (I had the meshify C mini, same case but vertically shorter), I did have the fans inside the case so you likely have to count them.

PrimeIII · November 21, 2023

21 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

If you want a headache-less experience, go for ZMT (EPDM rubber) tubing, not clear stuff, that tends to have issues over time. Dodge EK's blocks unless you really want them for aesthetics, usually they're overpriced vs something like a Heatkiller IV that performs better (and is built better, my Heatkiller IV for my Vega FE was the most solid block I've ever had). Check HardwareLabs radiator prices, they make pretty much the best ones so if they aren't more expensive than the Corsair ones, then they're better. Can't remember who the OEM for Corsair's radiators is, it might actually be HardwareLabs already.

G1/4 is the threading on the end that screws into blocks/rads/etc, that's standard and should work with any normal watercooling hardware. 10/13 is the tubing measurement, that'd work if you stick with that clear tubing. If you switch to ZMT, I recommend just cheap barb fittings and black zip ties (with a $7 flush cutter of amazon they look very clean). That's about the latest photo from when I cared about how the PC looked:

Horrible lighting but you can see the zip ties blend in well. Never had a leak using this setup through... probably 5+ rebuilds now. Was using an EK block for the GPU here as Watercool never made a Heatkiller for the Radeon VII. Found out after selling it to a friend that I had been running the block backwards the whole time and gumming it up, EK said in the documentation included that it could be ran either way, so not a great impression there. That EKWB pump/res combo has been damn solid though, it's a D5 so can't really be messed up, tis the only pump/res combo I've had through all my builds.

Been a while since I had my meshify C... if the fans don't mount on the "outside" of the case (just behind the mesh front) then count your radiator as 55mm because you've gotta include 25mm fans (you can get 15mm fans if you have to though). Looking back at my photos (I had the meshify C mini, same case but vertically shorter), I did have the fans inside the case so you likely have to count them.

Wonderful insight, thanks buddy. I very much appreciate the information!